Suggestion: Turn Balmung into an Official RP Server

[Abriael]

To be fair, people aren't relocating because the devs decided, for whatever silly reason, to lock servers without implementing any of the bonuses they promise will be available by June 16th.

What they have promised aren't even "Bonuses." Nothing of that is something I would classify as a real incentive. Sure, you don't pay for the transfer, and you can carry through more money, but that just mean you're not *losing* money (real and virtual), not that you're gaining anything. So basically they're asking people to move, losing all their housing/GC progress and social links, for a big fat nothing.

Which is why I mentioned in the OP that tangible rewards for moving would be necessary.

I'm a roleplayer myself, so I would love a server with an actual 'RP' tag on it, it helps to keep fellow roleplayers together on the same server and keep the roleplay alive.

Labeling RP a server that isn't the one where the overwhelming majority of the RP community already resides (and will always reside) actually achieves the opposite effect of fragmenting the RP community and the roleplay.

[3Bears1Goldy]

Labeling RP a server that isn't the one where the overwhelming majority of the RP community already resides (and will always reside) actually achieves the opposite effect of fragmenting the RP community and the roleplay.

A very good point. But I suppose still having a server with the 'RP' tag would help with the newer roleplayers that may be joining the game but cannot roll on Balmung for the foreseeable future. Rather than having them spreading out across additional servers, at least having them focus on one additional server that is open for character transfers and character creation is better than being spread out across all the other servers.

[Abriael]

A very good point. But I suppose still having a server with the 'RP' tag would help with the newer roleplayers that may be joining the game but cannot roll on Balmung for the foreseeable future. Rather than having them spreading out across additional servers, at least having them focus on one additional server that is open for character transfers and character creation is better than being spread out across all the other servers.

It possibly would, but I don't really expect a massive influx of new players to come with Stormblood. FFXIV is a mature game, and realistically most of the people interested in playing it, already did at some point. It will bring back a lot of lapsed players that are already on their server of choice.

The point is that by incentivizing (in a tangible and realistic way, not with a thank you and a pat on the back) non-roleplayers to move off Balmung, and using Balmung as what it already is officially, there is the possibility to lighten the load enough to reopen Balmung itself to new roleplayers, keeping the community together, which is IMHO desirable.

But like many have already said, you aren't going to get PvErs to just up and transfers off Balmung with a RP label.

No you're not. Hence the point that it would have to be associated with tangible incentives. Because if those don't come, no one (in numbers sizable enough to make a dent on the problem) will move at all anyway.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

No you're not. Hence the point that it would have to be associated with tangible incentives. Because if those don't come, no one (in numbers sizable enough to make a dent on the problem) will move at all anyway.

Okay. Tell us what you'll offer them. If the supposed free game time and EXP gains SE plans to implement on smaller servers aren't enough. What else can you offer that will incentive either of the two FCs I mentioned to leave?

[Bourne_Endeavor]

Labeling RP a server that isn't the one where the overwhelming majority of the RP community already resides (and will always reside) actually achieves the opposite effect of fragmenting the RP community and the roleplay.

But like many have already said, you aren't going to get PvErs to just up and transfers off Balmung with a RP label. There are fairly prominent FCs on this server (Ward; Highborn) who don't roleplay whatsoever yet have no interest in transferring. Like I said, the only incentive that works is a brand new server. Nothing else will get large established groups to try convincing all their members to move.

[ReplicaX]

Labeling RP a server that isn't the one where the overwhelming majority of the RP community already resides (and will always reside) actually achieves the opposite effect of fragmenting the RP community and the roleplay.

The majority you are referring to unfortunately isn't the majority of the server pop. Regardless, it still won't resolve the issue making Balmung an official RP server. If the servers do not equalize due to player greed and the server continues to bottleneck due to Balmung's high population which also affects its datacenter as well. SE might have to go to extreme measures, forced player transfers.

Atm, the RP community has a choice to correct this on their own and create less "fragmenting" by collectively coming to a decision and moving to servers that can actually accommodate their growth. Balmung has never had room to grow since ARR release, it has always had restrictions in some way.

[Abriael]

Atm, the RP community has a choice to correct this on their own and create less "fragmenting" by collectively coming to a decision and moving to servers that can actually accommodate their growth.

The RP community isn't a hive mind. There's nothing in this world (outside of direct action from Square Enix), which will cause the majority of the RP community to move off balmung without causing fragmentation. That's the very nature of an RP community, which is strongly rooted in numbers. RPers will always try to gravitate where they have the highest chance to find RP, which is Balmung.